One of the tools that is handy for sharing something with many students or even parents is Slideshare. This is a great place to find slideshows already made and they usually can be modified easily. It also works seamlessly with PowerPoint. You can create (or use one you previously created) a slideshow on PowerPoint, and then upload it to your Slideshare account. This would be a wonderful place for 4th grade to web 2ify their Virtual Colonies. When you set this up, I suggest that you create it with your class log-on name (for the LD people that have that) and use that password. For the rest, you might want to use a password and identity that you don't mind sharing with students. That way your students can put things on this as well and that is great motivation for them to do everything correctly. Just be sure to remind them that they would not want to identify themselves or their school in any way on such a forum. You can see the slideshows I've made on PowerPoint and uploaded to slideshare here. I also have one or two there that are modifications of other people's shows.
Another tool is virtual field trips. Using your overhead projector, you can take students to places they can only imagine in real time.
Items in the next category could fit into the online or collaborative section but I think they fit well onto your toolbelt. These are online Flashcards. You usually need to set up an account and then you can log in. Most of them allow people to search for sets that have already been made. If you work in early grades, you could use these as a class set--make a class login that is not using your own password and then set up stuff for them to log into to practice. For the laptop teachers you could have kids use their emails and create flashcards for each other or on some, they can join groups to create and work on the cards. There are enough that I made an Online Flashcards page for the wiki.
This is a list (a Glog really) that links to all kinds of tools that you can use to individualize learning. It was compiled from ISTE resources so it should be very recent and up-to-date.
Another great resource that is Web 2.0 that you may have overlooked is itunes university. You can get an itunes account for free. You can view them from your laptop using itunes. You don't have to have an ipod or iphone. There are both audio and video podcasts that are available to you and your students. You must download itunes to do this and it is blocked at school. But most students have itunes and could use something at home if you assigned it. So think about finding resources that you can use in your classroom here.
If none of these are appealing to you, take a look at the assessment resources here. There are lots of things you can use to begin assessing your web 2.0 products. Remember, too, that many of these tools are the assessment themselves so having clear criterion about how they are going to be graded (ie rubrics) is important.
Have fun!
1 point for exploration
1 point for creating a podcast or making a list of podcasts that you could use in your class. Or you can set up a Slideshare account and upload something to it. Let us know about that by linking your blog to it or by listing the podcasts you want kids to listen to. Remember that itunes is blocked at school so if you want to share podcasts with your students, you will have to download them to your computer or have them use them at home.
1 point for reflections in your blog about these kinds of tools and their uses for you.
One of the tools that is handy for sharing something with many students or even parents is Slideshare. This is a great place to find slideshows already made and they usually can be modified easily. It also works seamlessly with PowerPoint. You can create (or use one you previously created) a slideshow on PowerPoint, and then upload it to your Slideshare account. This would be a wonderful place for 4th grade to web 2ify their Virtual Colonies. When you set this up, I suggest that you create it with your class log-on name (for the LD people that have that) and use that password. For the rest, you might want to use a password and identity that you don't mind sharing with students. That way your students can put things on this as well and that is great motivation for them to do everything correctly. Just be sure to remind them that they would not want to identify themselves or their school in any way on such a forum. You can see the slideshows I've made on PowerPoint and uploaded to slideshare here. I also have one or two there that are modifications of other people's shows.
Another tool is virtual field trips. Using your overhead projector, you can take students to places they can only imagine in real time.
Items in the next category could fit into the online or collaborative section but I think they fit well onto your toolbelt. These are online Flashcards. You usually need to set up an account and then you can log in. Most of them allow people to search for sets that have already been made. If you work in early grades, you could use these as a class set--make a class login that is not using your own password and then set up stuff for them to log into to practice. For the laptop teachers you could have kids use their emails and create flashcards for each other or on some, they can join groups to create and work on the cards. There are enough that I made an Online Flashcards page for the wiki.
Another resource that I encourage you to take advantage of and to have your students take advantage of is podcasting. Here is a resource from UCF about podcasting .The Educational Podcast Network has many resources to give you ideas and has podcasts you can listen to sorted by category. This would be something that older students could produce at home. Here's a brief blog about it from Learning in Hand.
This is a list (a Glog really) that links to all kinds of tools that you can use to individualize learning. It was compiled from ISTE resources so it should be very recent and up-to-date.
Another great resource that is Web 2.0 that you may have overlooked is itunes university. You can get an itunes account for free. You can view them from your laptop using itunes. You don't have to have an ipod or iphone. There are both audio and video podcasts that are available to you and your students. You must download itunes to do this and it is blocked at school. But most students have itunes and could use something at home if you assigned it. So think about finding resources that you can use in your classroom here.
If none of these are appealing to you, take a look at the assessment resources here. There are lots of things you can use to begin assessing your web 2.0 products. Remember, too, that many of these tools are the assessment themselves so having clear criterion about how they are going to be graded (ie rubrics) is important.
Have fun!
1 point for exploration
1 point for creating a podcast or making a list of podcasts that you could use in your class. Or you can set up a Slideshare account and upload something to it. Let us know about that by linking your blog to it or by listing the podcasts you want kids to listen to. Remember that itunes is blocked at school so if you want to share podcasts with your students, you will have to download them to your computer or have them use them at home.
1 point for reflections in your blog about these kinds of tools and their uses for you.